Coal miner Minergy’s Masama coal project, in Botswana, is now fully operational, with saleable coal already moved to South Africa and Namibia, the company said on Wednesday.

Minergy in March announced that mine infrastructure, including civil works, power reticulation, water reticulation, access roads, weighbridge offices and workshops, had been completed.

The company had moved more than 2.2-million cubic metres of overburden material by the end of July, while the processing plant successfully passed electricity connectivity and leak tests.

Meanwhile, plant upgrades are ongoing to improve efficiencies and provide consistency in quality and sizing, the Botswana-listed company said in a statement. 

Minergy has extracted about 39 000 t of coal to date.

More than 340 000 t remains exposed in the pit, which only needs to be blasted and put through the plant.

Minergy said this equated to about three months of feedstock.

From August, Minergy plans to mine 110 000 t of run-of-mine coal a month. The same quantities will be put through the washing plant and should result in saleable coal of between 70 000 t and 80 000 t, increasing to 100 000 t a month next year.

The company expects Masama will reach steady-state production by September.

Minergy CEO Morné du Plessis said demand for the product was high, as a result of the short supply of coal specifically into the South African industrial market.

“This was confirmed at the recent Coal Industry Day, held in Johannesburg on July 24, where speakers highlighted the decline in South Africa’s coal production by 20-million tons from historical volumes.

“In addition, it is believed that Eskom will suffer a shortfall in coal supply of 470-million tons by 2030. Large players in the sector, diversified miners Anglo American and South32, are respectively withdrawing from the coal sector and disposing of their coal assets, meaning the supply will tighten even further.”

Minergy is currently exploring various options for offtake, ranging from longer-term agreements for the finer duff product to spot deals for the bigger fractions.